


Sweet Nothings

by obbets



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, disaster pansexual portia devorak, featuring the terrible idea squad, have you ever decided that you didn't have a crush despite all evidence to the contrary, julian is very disappointed at the distinct lack of science happening, nadia is never going to allow herself to make funny suggestions ever again, the arcana secret cupid 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 22:14:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17886110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obbets/pseuds/obbets
Summary: The two magicians are too cute together, to the extent that Nadia doesn't believe that they are for real. Don't worry - detective Portia Devorak is on the case! She will get to the bottom of this.





	Sweet Nothings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haraya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haraya/gifts).



“Look at them. Disgusting.” Nadia rolled her eyes at the couple sitting in the hazy late-afternoon light flooding the palace gardens. The peal of their delighted laughter could be heard even from the veranda where she stood, overlooking the vast royal estate. 

At her elbow, Portia’s eyes were wide. “Milady?” she asked, scanning the verdant greens for whatever the problem was, although her gaze kept being drawn back to the pair sitting on the picnic blanket, gesturing at the clouds and laughing at whatever hilarious subject they were discussing. The magician lay his head in the apprentice’s lap, and she combed her fingers through his hair, smiling down at him. 

Portia was so busy watching the gentle caress, breath caught in her throat, that it took a couple of moments for her brain to realise that Nadia had continued speaking. “-it’s just ridiculous. Nobody is that cute all the time.”

The two of them observed the scene. Asra’s broad smile was visible even through the dark curtain of her long hair, brushing his skin from where she leaned over him, towards the wicker picnic basket they had brought with them (and isn’t that adorable? Where did they even find one of those baskets? Portia had been looking for one of those; maybe she should ask where they got it.) Rei drew some fresh fruit out of the basket, and pressed a strawberry to Asra’s lips. His lashes were dark against his cheekbone as he accepted it, and the tenderness of the gesture was almost too much for Portia’s poor heart to bear. 

“-you see? That’s what I’m talking about. How could anyone be that sweet?” 

Portia scrunched her nose up in thought, one finger coming up to tap her chin. “Maybe they just act like that?” She sure wouldn’t complain if a partner wanted to feed her strawberries or spend an afternoon having a picnic and looking at the clouds… 

“But all the time? I have half a mind to follow them, just to see if they can keep it up. Yet a countess’s work is never done, alas...”

 _Follow them?_ Portia’s eyes were drawn back to the two of them, once again. “I could do it… Follow them around, observe their every move? Easy! I know every nook and cranny in this palace, and I know the city like the back of my hand!” She puffs up with pride. “Don’t worry, milady! I’ll be your eyes in your stead.”

Nadia’s eyes widened. “Portia- it was more of a passing thought than an _idea_ …”

Movement in her peripheral vision caught her eye. Asra and Rei were packing up their picnic blanket, hands brushing wherever they touched. “Well, no time like the present! It’s okay if I start now, right, milady?” At Nadia’s slow nod, Portia rushed off, hoping to catch up before Asra and Rei had gotten too far away, leaving Nadia to stare bemusedly after her.

*

“I don’t understand. I thought we were going to do _science_ , not have dinner?” 

“We _are_ doing science!” Portia hisses, bumping her brother out of the way so that she can get the chair with the best view of the two magicians, sitting at a nearby table. Julian slides into the chair opposite her, barely blinking an eye at the casual way she had pushed him aside.

“Are you sure, because this looks an awful lot like dinner-” Julian was cut off by his sister leaning across the table and covering his mouth with her hand. 

“ _Be quiet!_ They’ll notice us!” She held still, leaning precariously over the table, staring at the couple, chatting leisurely over their menus. Asra had Rei’s hand in his, and his thumb swiped over the back of her hand every so often with an incredibly soft look on his face. She was gesturing at something on the menu with excitement, a huge grin on her face, and he nodded in response to whatever she was saying. It didn’t seem like they had been spotted, so Portia slowly retracted, sitting back down normally on her side of the table, hoping that if she didn’t make any sudden movements then she wouldn’t attract the eye. 

_“Who_ will notice us? Pasha?” He tried to twist in his seat, following her gaze, but she catches his shoulder with surprising strength considering her short stature. “Is that Asra and R-“

“Shut _up,_ Ilya! Of course it’s Asra and Rei! Why else would we be here?”

“...to do… science?” Julian regarded Portia dubiously. “Are you feeling okay? You seem erratic. Do you have a fever?” 

“We _are_ doing science!” Portia grabbed the menu that she hadn’t even glanced at, and stood it up on the table, ducking her head so that the menu blocked direct line of sight between her and her targets. She motioned for him to join her behind the makeshift shield. His expression was doubtful, but he dutifully bent down, although he was too tall for it to look anything but awkward. “Nadia asked me to keep an eye on the two of them, to find out for definite if they really are that cute all the time.”

“Nadia asked you to do that? Really?”

“Well, _technically_ I decided to, but it was definitely her idea. It makes sense, though, doesn’t it? They’re too adorable. They can’t act like that all the time.” 

The two Devoraks peeked in unison over the menu, at Asra and Rei. The candle in the middle of the table cast a warm glow on their faces, flickering in their eyes as they murmured to each other. The waiter came to take their order, and all the while, they were sneaking glances at each other out of the corner of their eyes, taking in the fancy clothes they had chosen, hands clasped tightly together on top of the table. 

“...Why not?”

Without taking her gaze off the two of them (because yeah, they both looked very good dressed to the nines like that, and Portia was absolutely big enough to admit that, she replied, “because… because they can’t!” 

“What are you even _looking_ for?”

“I’ll know it when I see it, Ilya!”

A sharp _ahem_ broke them out of their whispered bickering, and they both turned to look up at the waiter who was staring at them, and the menu they were using as a shield, disapprovingly over his notepad. “Would madame and monsieur like to order something?”

Both of the Devoraks blushed bright pink, but it was Julian who eventually said, “...could we have five more minutes to look at the menu?” 

Once the waiter had left, Julian turned back to his sister. _“Nothing_ about this is science, I hope you realise that.”

Portia thwacked him on the shoulder with her menu.

*

Portia rushed through the crowds outside the community theatre. Late! That wouldn’t do. She bumped through the outer doors, hearing the music swelling from the main stage, but took a sharp right instead of joining the audience. She shimmied through a tight space in between various theatre equipment, almost going to the backstage area but then climbing up into the rafters instead. She pulled herself up through a gap, coming unexpectedly face to face with a pair of big green eyes, blinking curiously at her. 

Her mouth started talking before she had consciously given it permission. “Well. I can’t say I was expecting company.”

“...what are you doing here?” The man was huge, and it was unclear how he managed to sit comfortably in such a tight space. His shaggy hair brushed the gable roof, and although he let his legs dangle off one of the beams that he was sitting on, but his back was still hunched over in the small space at the apex of the theatre. Portia, on the other hand, was able to sit quite comfortably, perching on one of the beams of the roof, and bracing her feet against another beam as she regarded the stranger. 

“I’m here for the show!” She smiled at him, but he didn’t reciprocate, instead shifting slightly away from her and dropping his gaze. Perhaps he doesn’t like company…

Putting the matter of the strange guy who watches plays from the rafters aside (had he even bought a ticket? Portia couldn’t really say anything considering that she was up there as well, but in her defence, she had legitimate reasons for not joining the crowd down below), Portia pulled out the opera glasses she had borrowed from Nadia, and began scanning the crowd for the magicians. Finally, she found them, and she carefully manoeuvred across the roof so that she had an unobscured view, no thanks to all the inconveniently located tall people in the audience. 

Asra and Rei were sitting close to one another, arm in arm, shoulders pressed together. The actor playing Lucio was exaggerating his movements, drawling his words and making his performance as dramatic as possible. Portia was very sure that it was hilarious, but the unreasonably tall person sitting behind Asra and Rei kept gesticulating wildly towards the stage, and it was obscuring Portia’s view. They were holding hands now, and Asra was tilting his head towards Rei, murmuring to her about something, and she was smiling up at him like he was the sun, and he leaned in towards her and that stupid tall person kept leaning in and waving and _getting in the way._ By the time that the human giraffe had leaned back, they had broken apart, and Portia suppressed an annoyed huff. How was she supposed to tell Nadia her observations if she couldn’t observe?

A low voice came from behind her shoulder, and she jumped. “What are you doing.”

Summoning a wide smile to try and cover the feeling of _whoops I’ve been caught!,_ Portia turns back to the huge man, much closer than he was last time she had glanced his way. He was frowning, and she noticed his eyes flick briefly to the date she had been watching unfold, then back at her. “I was watching the show, just like you!” _Never mind that the show she had been watching wasn’t happening onstage…_

The big man grunted - _is it possible to grunt disbelievingly?_ “...Some people like their privacy.” 

_Damn._ She had been hoping that he would refrain from commenting upon her obvious ogling out of politeness, so that she wouldn’t have to say anything about it at all. She smiled at him again, and turned back towards the stage, hoping that maybe he would go back to ignoring her if he was just reminded of exactly how that works. 

No luck. He cleared his throat behind her, and it sounded more like the rumble of thunder than any noise made by a mere human had a right to do. Apparently he took offence to the scientific method. 

She sighed, and said, “Okay! Okay. I’ll stop.” _For now._

She spent the rest of the play with her head tilted towards the stage, but with the two pretty magicians firmly within her peripheral vision. It was better than nothing, at least. 

*

 _A gondola ride,_ Portia lamented to herself. It was definitely romantic - the two magicians were wrapped up in each other’s arms. The gentle lapping of the canal waters against the gondolier’s oar, the soft murmur of their voices, too low for her to make out any individual words, and the dying light of the late afternoon wove a spell of softness and intimacy around the two of them. It certainly was lovely - if you were in the gondola. 

If, however, like Portia, you happened to be on foot, attempting to follow said gondola, despite the fact that not all of Vesuvia’s canals happened to have footpaths alongside them, all whilst attempting to remain out of view of the gondola’s inhabitants - well, that would be a different story. She kept having to run the long way around waterfront buildings that were built all the way up to the canal’s edge, or edge her way through the stalls that pop up from time to time on the riverside, hoping to take advantage of the ambiance.

Such as this one- a florist. The blooms were stunning, and the smell of marigolds and hydrangeas and gaillardias suffused her senses, the riot of colours only avoiding feeling too chaotic or brash due to the skill with which the florist had arranged their stall.

“A posy, miss?” asked the vendor, gesturing to a row of small bunches of flowers grouped together expertly in beautiful combinations, held together by ribbons tied in immaculate bows. She leaned in, bunching her hair up in one hand to hold it out of her face, and smelled the nearest posy. It was divine. And the light mix of violets and whites reminded her of Asra - his pretty smile, and those big eyes. Right beside that was another bouquet, in the cool blues and purples that Rei tended to favour, wrapped in a red ribbon. 

Portia wavered, looking at the posies. She knew that the two of them liked flowers - they had some in a window box at their shop when she had been staking it out earlier - she picked the nearest one up and held it to her nose. Maybe she could-

 _“Portia?”_ She jumped, the posy almost tumbling out of her hand as she heard Rei’s voice from right behind her. “What a surprise to see you here!” Rei sounded surprised, but not annoyed to see her. That was a good sign - she probably hadn’t been caught following them… Portia looked guiltily between the flowers in her hand (a perfect match for Rei’s outfit today) and Rei’s face. “Asra and I were just looking to buy some flowers, but we have been taking a gondola tour of the city. Would you like to join us maybe?”

“Join you?” Portia felt the blush overtake her cheeks as she considered it. Maybe it would be inappropriate, considering she has spent the past two weeks stalking them, but honestly? She’s missed spending time with the magicians. “I wouldn’t like to intrude…”

“You wouldn't be! It would be our pleasure.” Rei smiled at her, a genuine smile, and it was that which helped Portia make up her mind. 

“Well... Only if I can give you something too!” She paid for the flowers, and held them out to Rei, encouraged by the way that her face lit up as she took them. 

*

The three of them are on the gondola. It’s a bit crowded including the gondolier, but they make it work. The magicians had purchased individual flowers with long stems, and they are making flower crowns on the boat together. Portia is behind Rei, hands in her hair, weaving it into a complicated braid and occasionally swiping flowers from the small pile to thread them through the hairstyle. 

Rei finishes her crown first, and asks Asra to lean forward so that she can place it on his head without moving herself and accidentally disturbing Portia’s careful work. He smiles, and the colourful flowers shine bright against his white hair. “How do I look?”

She reaches out to catch his hand, and gallantly presses a kiss to his knuckles. “You look beautiful, like a princess from a fairytale.” He fakes a swoon towards the two of them, a playful grin on his face. 

Portia tuts, pulling a spare ribbon off her wrist and tying it around the end of Rei’s braid. “Milady was right. You too are just too adorable.” 

Rei looks up at her, upside down, and something about the look in her big brown eyes makes Portia’s heart flutter. “What do you mean?”

It’s hard to think with Rei looking that cute, from so close to her. “Oh-- well-- you know… Just that Nadia and I were… wondering if you always act like that?”

“Oh?” Portia’s eyes dart to Asra. He’s got a dangerous smirk on his face, like the cat that got the canary. She gulped. “Is that why we’ve only been seeing you from afar these past few weeks, hmm?”

 _Uh oh._ “You- you saw me?!” Portia’s eyes darted from left to right, wondering how terrible of an idea it would be to try and jump off the boat onto the path running alongside the canal. 

“We saw you and Julian at the restaurant! We wanted to come and say hello, but we assumed you didn’t want to be disturbed since every time we looked over you looked away.” Rei’s eyes are so warm and sincere, and Portia’s brain stops working for a second.

“Oh, haha! Well- we were just… you know, bonding! Brother-sister bonding, you see. It’s important! Yep…” Portia willed her cheeks to stop blushing. _Be cool! Maybe you can play this off, Pasha!_

It doesn’t seem to be working. Asra’s smirk has not disappeared, and he’s watching Portia blush with obvious amusement. “I hear you also came to see a play the other day. From the rafters.” 

“Oh! Well, you see, it’s, uh-”

Rei interrupted her before she had a chance to try and stutter an excuse out. “If you wanted to spend time with us, you could have just asked you know.” Rei smiles up at her. “We enjoy having you around.”

That knocks all the wind out of Portia’s sails. How could she even respond to that? Many responses flit through her mind, but in the end, she settles for the truth. “I enjoy being around you too!”

Asra laughs, but the smirk is still in his eyes. “Well, that’s a relief, considering we are all stuck on a boat together!” He leans toward, and places the flower crown he had made on Portia’s head. “Here, this is for you.”

She reaches up and touches the soft petals, and looks at Asra, and Rei, both smiling back at her. “Thank you! I love it!”

*

She’s still wearing it later on when she goes back to Nadia, and tells her that yes, Asra and Rei somehow _are_ that cute, all the time.

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Arcana secret cupid 2019, and features @katharaya on tumblr's apprentice, Rei! Although it's terribly terribly late. I'm so sorry!
> 
> I hope that you enjoy it anyway <3


End file.
